The Wolf in the Southwest: The Making of an Endangered Species

The premier predatory animal in the Southwest, and certainly the most controversial, the wolf came to grips with European settlement, particularly the livestock industry, and lost. First in Texas, Arizona, and New Mexico, and finally in Old Mexico, the southwestern wolf was driven to extirpation; ironically, the last wolves were hunted down not long before the advent of laws—and a conservation ethic—that could have saved them. Drawing on reports of the U.S. government’s former Office of Predatory Animal and Rodent Control (PARC), and from accounts of wolf hunters themselves, David E. Brown has compiled the history of the wolf’s elimination. Included is a complete documentation of the eradication program, fascinating stories of the last few wolves that eluded hunters, and information on wolf biology from those who best knew its habits.

Since its first publication in 1983, The Wolf in the Southwest has proven itself as the single most valuable and informative reference to Canis lupus of the Mexican borderlands. Now, the descendents of the last wolves captured in Mexico once again roam portions of wilderness in New Mexico and Arizona. With reintroduction, this second edition contains a new Preface and Epilogue by David E. Brown, and a new Foreword by author and biologist Harley Shaw. Once again there are wolves in the woods, and just as in the days of the pioneers, people are taking sides. Love him or hate him, the wolf is again making history, and The Wolf in the Southwest is back in print.